


What Mysteries Come Between us

by Armyofchaos



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: But spooky stuff still goes down at silas, F/F, Journalist Laura, Librarian AU, Librarian Carmilla, Mild Gore, Not Canon Compliant, Rating will go up in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-09-02 01:22:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8645731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Armyofchaos/pseuds/Armyofchaos
Summary: Laura is under a lot of pressure, and Carmilla mostly just wants to take a nap. However there's a mystery at Silas to solve and Laura is going to need all the help she can get, will Carmilla step up? Or will her past keep dragging her down.





	1. Chapter 1

Carmilla slouched further into her chair, stifling a groan. The library was empty, or near enough, a few quiet customers lingering in various corners of the bookshelves. Soon she could go home. She enjoyed her job assisting the librarian for the most part, despite the fact it meant giving up her weekends.The library was a little out of the way, eccentric and for the most part, quiet. It suited her down to the ground. Still, all it took to ruin her day were a few slack-jawed teenagers who seemed to think that a library was simply another place to get felt up away from prying eyes rather than study. The sudden appearance of a figure in front of her jolted her from her disgruntled musings. Admittedly the Library desk was tall, but this girl's chin barely cleared the edge, although there was an astonishing amount of energy radiating from her small frame.  
  
"Hi," she said, placing both hands on the countertop and looking Carmilla in the eye, " where can I find 'The Mysteries of the Unexplained' and your occult section?"  
  
"Slow down there Buttercup, at least warm a girl up before you ask for her occult section." She winked at the unamused glare she got in response.  
  
"Right, as much as I would love to enjoy some banter right now I kind of have a job to do so can you please stop wasting my time? Occult section. Book. Please." God, she was practically shaking with self righteous determination.  
  
"Alright, don't get your panties in a bunch, occult section is at the end of those shelves behind the staircase and that book should be about eye height on the last shelf."  
  
The girl barely had time to throw a quick "thanks" over her shoulder before she was striding off in the direction Carmilla had indicated, her honey blonde hair bouncing with each step. Carmilla shook her head she settled back down behind her desk and pulled out her book, why were the cute ones always weird?

An hour and a half later most of the customers had trickled out of the door and Carmilla was itching to go home. However one short blonde had been conspicuously absent (not that she'd been looking). Great. Latching the front door so no more customers could enter, she went off among the stacks in search of the girl, only to find her hunched over a table in one of the far back corners, several large leather bound books taking up most of the space on the desk. She was writing in a notebook so furiously that ink flecks speckled the page and her wrist, occasionally pausing to pore over some obscure text. It was almost cute, the way her brow was furrowed in concentration.  
  
"Alright Creampuff it's time to pack up, library's closing." There was no response. She edged closer,  
  
"Hello? We're closing." Still nothing.  
  
She clicked her fingers back and forth right in front of the girl's eyes, causing her to jump back in her chair, "Wha... oh. It's you."  
  
"Yes, and we're closing, so can you continue your little journalism project elsewhere. I'd offer to let you check out those books but we don't release them unless we're sure you've had the proper training. They can get...tetchy...with improper treatment."  
  
"I can't even take books out of your stupid library? That's ridiculous!" She huffed.  
  
"See, it's exactly talk like that that'll end up with your curtains on fire or a permanently bad Wi-Fi connection. However you can always come back tomorrow." Carmilla could practically see the thunder cloud forming over the girl's head.  
  
"Ugh, fine!" She shoved her notebook into her bag, swung it over her shoulder and stormed over to the door, trying and failing to pull it open. Carmilla snorted,  
  
"You maybe wanna try the latch, genius?" All she received was a glare over her shoulder as she finally pulled the door open and stomped out. Carmilla briefly wondered what had caused her to have such a gigantic stick up her ass, before quickly deciding not to go down that road. Assholes were assholes, no matter how cute.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay fine I have no self control so here's chapter two

The light of the morning sun streamed in through Carmilla's bedroom window, forcing her bleary eyes open a crack. It was Sunday, and she was awake before 11am. This was not a good situation. She rolled over to check her phone, 9.27am, four messages and one missed call. One was from a girl she met at the bar last night after work, which she deleted, the other three and the call were from Danny.

"Get your ass up, don't forget about coffee. I know what you're like" 8.59

"Wake up or I swear to god I'll tell everyone I know what happened at that party when we met." 9.16

"Answer your phone!" 9.31

She clicked through her contacts to find Danny's number as she rolled out of bed and pressed dial. Predictably, Danny answered on the first ring,

"Let me guess, you're _not_ just around the corner?"

"I'm sorry okay, I get it, I'm a terrible friend. I'll see you in fifteen."

"You better," Danny grumbled, "see you soon." Carmilla picked up the first clothes that came to hand, black jeans, black t-shirt, (both reasonably clean) and her combat boots. She squinted against the sun as she left her apartment building, regretting not picking up her sunglasses, and pushed herself into a fast walk to reach the cafe where Danny was waiting, near to the centre of town. She was rounding the corner just a few minutes from her destination when she crashed into a speed walking pedestrian,

"Oof!" She caught hold of the elbow that had just left a dent in her stomach I'm order to stop herself being knocked over.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" The stranger exclaimed, holding Carmilla's shoulders at arm's length to check her over for injury. "Are you oka - oh, its you." She smothered a groan, it was the asshole customer from the library.

"Just fine Creampuff, broken ribs are no biggie. Now if you don't mind I have places to be." She went to push past the shorter girl but was stopped by a hand on her elbow.

"Look, I was going to come into the library later-"

"Wonderful." She deadpanned.

"Because I wanted to apologise for my behavior yesterday, I was rude. And I know it's no excuse but I'd just had a terrible day and I had some big news that could impact the whole university if I can get it right and I'm under a lot of pressure from my tutor now that I've told her but really I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for being such an asshole. I was going to come in to the library to say that as well as continue on my project but I didn't know if you'd be working and, well, yeah." She paused to inhale, red cheeked, "Can you forgive me?" She had such an earnest and hopeful look in her eyes that Carmilla couldn't resist trying to make her feel better.

"Uh yeah, sure. Whatever."

"Great!" The girl beamed, "I'll see you at the library later? If you're working that is. Oh, and I'm Laura, I figure in our newfound closeness we should at least be on first name basis." This was such a U-turn from her behaviour yesterday that Carmilla's head was spinning. She was was bubbly, and about as far from Carmilla's usual type as it was possible to get. Best resort to usual tactics, i.e. flirt and run.

"Well as fun as becoming best buds would be, I actually do have somewhere to get to. Besides, I don't want to lose my air of mystery do I?" She winked and continued down the road. It was less than a minute later when she arrived at the cafe, she scanned the seats until she heard Danny call her name from one corner, "Carmilla!" Right, as is she could miss that ginger giant even if she wanted to. A voice came from behind her,

"Air of mystery huh?" Carmilla whirled around.

"You know stalking's bad manners right?" She said. Laura scoffed,

"Like you're the only one meeting someone at this cafe _Carmilla_. Is that your date?" Carmilla rolled her eyes,

"No. And I don't have the energy for this." She slipped away through the crowded space until she reached Danny's table, where a coffee was already waiting for her.

"I swear, only you could manage to meet, and blow off, a cute girl before 10am, what's your secret?" She asked with faux admiration.

"Fuck off Xena, it's too early for your sarcasm."

"Surprisingly, for the rest of the world this is actually a reasonable time of day. But seeing as it's you I'll at least wait until after your first coffee of the day. Seriously though she's cute, do you know her?"

"Astoundingly observant as usual, she came into the library yesterday, behaved like a complete asshole." She took a sip of her coffee, the only perfect thing of her morning so far.

"Really? That little ball of sunshine?"

"Yeah, something about a big important uni project blah, blah. Either way she apologised this morning, using far too many words for a regular human being." Carmilla saw the sudden spark of interest in Danny's eyes, "oh no, you cannot be thinking about asking her out."

"What, you said she goes to Silas, that's the only university around here, I'm just surprised I haven't bumped into her before is all."

"Uh huh. Whatever you say." She followed Danny's line of sight over her shoulder and saw Laura engaged in conversation with two gingers she was sure she'd seen around campus before. As if sensing she was being watched, Laura raised her hazel eyes in Carmilla's direction, a soft smile still on her face. Inexplicably, Carmilla felt a fluttering low down in her stomach and a slight blush creeping across her cheeks. She quickly turned back around. "Anyway," she coughed, "why did you feel the need to meet this early a Sunday again?"

"Right, I wanted to discuss some things for the philosophy class, we're both going to be TA's this semester and I figure we could work together, make this whole thing a lot smoother."

"Ugh, remind me why I signed up for this again?"

"Because you're top of the class and love lording your knowledge over the masses?"

"Oh yeah." Danny pulled some books from her bag beneath the table and they both settled down to work, however begrudgingly on one side. "By the way, you wouldn't really tell people what happened at that party would you? Because you know I would actually murder you."

Danny just smirked.


	3. Chapter 3

Later that afternoon Carmilla had just started her shift at the Library when the large oak doors creaked open. As she had half been hoping (although she never would have admitted it out loud), it was Laura, complete with a large bag over one shoulder and a spring in her step.  
  
"Don't you have better things to do than hang around the library on a beautiful Sunday afternoon?" Carmilla asked, only semi sarcastically.  
  
"Actually no, I'm on the heels of something big and I need to keep working on it."  
The determination was back but at least the unpleasant attitude had been left outside.  
  
"Right," Carmilla drawled, "your super important project. Care to share?" Despite herself, her curiosity had been piqued.  
  
"Sorry," she frowned, "I really can't say a lot about it until I know what I'm up against, it's about Silas though, I'll tell you that much."  
  
"Lucky me. I don't know if I'd want to be poking my nose around there too much though, has a bit of a nasty reputation, or so I hear."  
  
Laura's chest seemed to puff up, and for an absurd moment Carmilla was reminded of a small bird, fragile but making itself look bigger and tougher than it really was.  
  
"But surely that's exactly why we should look into things like that! I mean someone has to, or things will never change. People deserve to live in a world where 'better' is what we strive for. Even you and your apathetic self deserve that much."  
  
"Touching speech, Lauronica Mars. Well, you know where to go, don't let me hold you back from changing the world. Me and my apathetic self will be over here minding our own business."  
  
Laura's face scrunched up in the way Carmilla absolutely did not find adorable, "I'm sorry, that was rude again, I swear I'm not usually like this."  
  
"Stop apologising and go, Creampuff, I actually have some work of my own to be doing."  
  
"Library stuff?" Laura looked around the vacant room.  
  
"No, believe it or not I actually study too, I'm just quieter about it."  
  
"You're at Silas too? Can I ask you something?"  
  
"You just did, more than once, but sure, fire away Creampuff."  
  
The other girl's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "have you ever noticed-" the creak of the old wooden door disrupted her sentence as a customer entered, and she loudly finished with, "that my name is actually Laura. What's with all the nicknames?"  
  
Carmilla eyed her suspiciously, curious as to the real ending of the hushed question but decided to drop it for now. "Just the way I roll, Poptart."  
  
Laura gave her an inscrutable look and hoisted her bag higher on her shoulder.  
"Okay, well I really should get going," she suddenly smirked, a look which seemed oddly out of place on her, "Carm."  
  
She caught herself continuing to stare after the short, retreating figure for several moments, and dragged her gaze away. She absolutely refused to develop a crush on this tiny, annoying, do-gooder. She had more pride than that surely. A small, usually well squashed down voice in the back of her mind traitorously whispered the opposite. No. She wouldn't put herself through this again, not after what happened to- after what happened last time. As was her habit, Carmilla pushed the old aching pain down inside, refusing to acknowledge it's presence. Her fingers absent mindedly stroked her upper arm, where even through the material of her t-shirt she could feel the the bumps and ridges of old scars. Never again.  
  
\------------------------------  
  
Predictably, Laura is still deeply engrossed in her work by the time the Library is due to close. Curiously, Carmilla leaned over the girl's shoulder to see what she was reading,  
  
"'Characteristics of ancient demons and where they can be found,' interesting choice..." Laura's shoulders rose in a half shrug at the murmer in her ear as she shut the book and swivelled round in the chair,  
  
"It's...relevant...I think..." She trailed off, suddenly aware of their proximity, the warmth of Carmilla's arm resting on the back of her chair pressing against her. For the barest fraction of a second her eyes flickered down to Carmilla's lips before back up to her eyes. In an impressive attempt at being casual, Carmilla stepped back, stuffing hands into pockets that suddenly demanded she take hold of Laura's face and pull it to her own, the coiling heat blooming in her stomach rebelling at the loss of contact.  
  
"Good, well. We're closing now."  
  
Laura frowned, but nodded. She seemed to be considering something as she stacked the heavy books she'd been using.  
  
"Did you mean what you said yesterday? About needing the proper training to check these books out?"  
  
"Not just those ones, nearly all the books in here are 'special' in one way or another. My boss got tired of the complaints so now he needs special reassurance that you've...got what it takes." Her eyes hadn't left the other girl's and honestly she hadn't _meant_ for her voice to come out so seductive at the end but clearly her hormones had other ideas. An attractive pink tinge started in the girl's cheeks and at the base of her throat. Against her better judgement Carmilla longed to lean in and taste its heat against her tongue.  
  
"No but, you really believe in that stuff?"  
  
"What 'stuff'?"  
  
"You know, these books really having special powers, magic, even the rumours of vampires and werewolves around campus!"  
  
You might be nearer those rumours than perhaps you want to know, Carmilla thought. She decided to play it safe,  
  
"You can't spend any amount of time at Silas and _not_ believe there's something slightly odd out there. Perhaps it's best for each person to decide what they believe."  
  
"That's not an answer."  
  
Carmilla smiled crookedly,  
"No, it's not."  
  
"Hmm... do you think I might see you around campus? What are you studying?"  
  
Carmilla sighed,  
"Just full of questions today aren't you Creampuff. I'm in Philosophy and English Lit."  
  
"Really?" She seemed excited, "I've just transferred to Philosophy from Ancient History last semester. Guess I will be seeing you around then!" She grinned as she hoisted her bag and headed for the door, sending a small wave in Carmilla's direction before slipping out.  
  
Carmilla groaned. Worst. Crush. Ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bear in mind that I know very little about the workings of American colleges and stuff that Carmilla seems to follow. It doesn't affect the story a whole hell of a lot though so I'm just gonna make it up as I go along and hopefully you guys won't mind!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for gore at the end
> 
> I know these chapters are short. But I figure it's better for that and them to be fairly regular than longer and more infrequent. Anyways hope you enjoy!

Over the next week at Silas, Carmilla seemed to see Laura everywhere. It was as if now she was aware of her, the other girl was everywhere to be found. It was highly frustrating, although Carmilla was unsure why it bothered her so much. The other girl was nothing to her, just a distraction from her goal to remain as aloof from the school as was possible, given the fact she wasn't able to leave as she longed to. She could thank her mother for that. She settled down at the table opposite Danny, scowling.

"What's your problem, Fangface?" She asked.

"Bite me."

"I thought that was your MO, not mine." She retorted.

"Right, as if you and your pack of hounds have the moral high ground here," she sneered.

"At least we don't feed on people to live. Whatever bullshit you have going on today, either spit it out or help me with these plans for the next philosophy class." She went to take out her notes, and looked expectantly at Carmilla, who scoffed. Danny had been a good friend to her, and although they often clashed and spat, sparked off each other like flints, it was mostly a way for them both to relieve stress. She could be trusted.

"Whatever, it's that 'little ball of sunshine' as you so eloquently put it."

Danny's brows raised in confusion, "What about her?"

"She's everywhere! It's...irritating." The other girl's expression cleared, then slowly changed to a smug look. "Whatever you're thinking, you're wrong."

"So you don't have a crush on her, and you're annoyed because it's making you feel something, like a real person?"

"No. She's just far too perky, who's that happy all the time?"

And it was true, with the exception of their initial meeting, every time Carmilla had bumped into the girl, or watched her from across the room (rarely, of course) she always had a smile on her face, or was laughing at some stupid joke from the shorter of the ginger twins. During her philosophy classes she was attentive and a good student, although several times Carmilla had caught casual glances her way, which had lingered into longer stares, provided Carmilla pretended she hadn't noticed. Every time she looked back Laura smiled and quickly returned to her notes.

"Right. Well as messed up as that is, we should really get to work. Unless..." Danny trailed off.

"What."

"Really though, are you okay?" Danny was far too good a friend, from the start she'd been looking out for her. Carmilla let her know just how much she was appreciated with her usual level of affection.

"I'd be far better if you stopped asking inane questions." She pulled the notebook over and flipped it open to start scribbling. She refused to look up at Danny, who she knew would have that irritating expression, the one where it looked like she cared.

\------------------

The week drew to a close and Carmilla was more than ready to spend her Friday night curled up in baggy sweats, complete with her cat and a long Netflix queue. While she often went to the bar, sometimes she felt like losing herself in the alternate worlds provided to her oh so handily by the internet. She was a few minutes from her apartment and making her way down an alley when she heard footsteps behind her. She rolled her shoulders subtly, it wouldn't be the first time she'd taken her frustrations out on a would-be attacker.

"Hey Kitty."

She froze, but didn't turn around.

"What kind of greeting is that for your brother?" God she could just see his smug fucking expression without even having to turn around, he never changed. "It's been years, aren't you glad to see me?"

She folded her arms over her chest and turned, she'd been right, satisfaction over catching her by surprise written all over his face.

"Just delighted. Now what do you want."

He prowled closer and tilted his head, shadows deepening on the planes of his face, "Mother wants you back in."

Carmilla laughed, bitterness stark in the sound, and tried to keep her composure.

"I bet she does. But it's not going to happen."

"I never did understand why you left."

"I wouldn't have expected you to. Goodbye William."

She turned to leave, not stopping as he called from behind her,

"She's not going to be happy."

She flipped him her middle finger knowing to his eyes it would be clear, despite the darkness. _Tell someone who gives a shit._

She walked the rest of the way to her apartment trying to quell gradually rising emotions. She spent so long trying to bury those memories, those obligations she shouldn't still feel tied to, and with one word from her brother the old wounds are torn open anew. That little rat, still scurrying around to do Mother's bidding as though nothing had changed. Although for him, she supposed, it hadn't, he wasn't the one that had been brutally awakened to what that life of unquestioning obedience really meant. Hadn't had his life given sudden purity only to have it sullied and torn away in moral filth of Mother's...obsession.

After what felt like hours she was inside her front door, slamming it shut and locking it with shaking hands. The bottle of whiskey she pulled from her counter was still mostly full, something for which she was thankful. Taking a long swig and relishing the burn she collapsed onto the sofa and dropped her head onto the hand not holding the whiskey, slid her fingers through her hair and clenched them till it ached. How could Mother even think she would go back. After what she did to-

 _Ell_.

Even thinking of her hurt, Carmilla had tried her hardest but still it wasn't enough. Not enough to save her. She chugged the whiskey as fast as she could, even though it brought tears to her eyes and made her choke. She was just so desperate not to _feel_ this anymore. When the bottle was as good as empty she let it hang between her knees, elbows denting her thighs and knuckles white on the neck of the bottle and waited. She hated this, how it was so easy to lay her low. She survived at Silas because she never had to see her mother, unconcerned as she was with the daily goings on of the school. She had far larger things on her mind. She would never be allowed to leave, not when Mother liked to keep her things so close. And yet it had been so long that she had fooled herself into believing maybe this time she could move on, forget and just go. She was a fool.

The bottle shattered beneath her hand, shards of glass slicing the sensitive skin of her palm. The whiskey had acted quickly, she was aware of the pain but it seemed somehow unreal, like it was happening to someone else. Absent mindedly she pulled the pieces out and dropped them with quiet clinks onto the hardwood floor beside the broken bottle. Several small gashes lay across her palm and fingers, gaping like little red mouths. She watched as blood slowly welled up from each and rolled over her skin like tears, following the path of least resistance to drip down to the ground.

She stepped carefully over the broken glass to the kitchen and wrapped a tea towel around her hand. It was a relief? The way her anxiety seemed to flow out of those cuts the way it used to, leaving her hollow inside. It was better than the alternative. Suddenly dizzy, she made her way back to the couch and sat, succumbing to mental exhaustion and alcohols numbing effects as she shifted so she was lying down.

Half asleep, she barely registered her cat settle on her chest and purr, her good hand found his silky black fur rising and falling with his gentle breaths.

She closed her eyes and slept.

 


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Carmilla woke with a raging headache and a deep throbbing in her left hand. She sat up clutching her head and dislodged the sleeping cat on her chest. He gave her an affronted look and sat on the arm of the couch, watching her with steady green eyes. Even though her constitution was far stronger than any human's, it would take a while for both her head and her hand to recover. She unwrapped the tea towel gingerly to reveal the sight of scabbed lines on her palm, she flexed her hand, wincing as one of the deeper cuts cracked open to start weeping again.

 _shit_.

It would heal fast enough, but not before she had to go to work. After washing it gently under the tap to remove the dried blood, she took a first aid box under the sink from which she removed a bandage, wrapping it gently around her palm. The cuts in her fingers were shallower, and had already started to heal so she didn't bother to cover them. Yanking the knot tight with her teeth, she pulled a blood bag from the fridge and filled a glass. She usually preferred to warm it, but that would take more effort than she could muster in her current condition. She eyed the small pile of blood-stained glass distastfully, it was funny how any blood raised her hunger and made her instincts flare up, apart from her own.

She took a shower awkwardly, holding one hand outside the stream of scalding water. Thoughts and questions about the previous night where whirling in her head, why now? What had changed for her mother to want her back in the fold after so many years of semi-freedom? She thought back to the old days, how she never knew what happened to the people she...befriended. She was to gain their trust, and lead them to her mother. After that it was out of her hands. God she had hated it, hated them. Those poor lost sheep, they had no idea what she really was, they blindly followed their base instincts to trust the pretty girl who gave them some attention. It had initially shocked her, how easy it was to lead them astray. A few smiles, calculated touches and eye contact, and they followed her. There were a few, through the years, that had truly piqued her interest and the faintest stirrings of guilt had shaken her conscience. But she had thought that there was nothing they could have offered to make her lose the substantial benefits that came from being Mother's tool.

Until Ell.

A quick turn of the dial cascaded now-freezing water onto her, making her gasp. It did no good to dwell now. She would avoid her mother. Until she couldn't. And then...? She didn't know. She stood until the cold sent shivers through her limbs and leached out along the arm she held free of the water. She needed to go.

\--------------------

As usual the library was quiet, although she expected Laura to be in some point soon. A few customers drifted around the shelves, a place like this tended to attract regulars of similar varieties, older people who had studied this stuff for most of their lives, and the occasional teen hopeful who had discovered 'witchcraft' through Wikipedia or something. Though the latter left soon enough. The reality wasn't quite as romantic as it appeared online. Long hours of dense, dusty books that seemed designed to befuddle the reader, nothing quite so simple as hexing the school bully. In reality most of these books were a history, their power obtained through the knowledge contained in their pages. But that much knowledge and psuedo-conciousness stored together felt a literal change in the atmosphere, a static almost undetectable, the crackle of something as old as mankind, but aloof and not inclined to be used lightly. Most people here, the humans at least, barely scratched the surface of that power and it was a good thing. They were, in general, fickle beings.

So the question remained as to what Laura was doing here, week after week. She didn't seem the sort to want to hex anyone, or seek eternal life as she knew some of her patrons (in a futile hope) researched. Nor did she seem to aspire to be a two-bit sorceress trying to impress people at parties. Demons. Sacrifices. The ancient history of Styria. It was a mystery that Carmilla knew had something to do with Silas. She had tried to put it out of her mind, but the recent appearance of Will had stirred her suspicions that this had something to do with her mother, ridiculous though it seemed on the face of it. Something had definitely changed though, and was it really so far fetched that the little freshman could have poked her nose into something she couldn't handle?

As if on cue Laura entered the building, trailed by Gingers one and two. She gave Carmilla a bright smile.

"I brought reinforcements. This is Laf and Perry," she indicated the shorter one, and the curly one, who seemed to be eyeing the dusty shelves with something akin to distress.

"Hey," said the shorter one, Laf, while they eyed the bandage on Carmilla's hand curiously. Carmilla slid her hand under the desk and nodded in reply.

"Did you need something?" She asked in a bored tone. She had no interest in playing nice today, and not even Laura's sunny personality could elevate her mood.

"Actually we, well I came to ask if you'd be interested in helping our investigation. Laf and Perry don't think its a good idea to involve anyone else, but we've kind of hit a dead end in our research and I'm guessing you know these books better than most. And you go to Silas too, so technically you're already invested! And really who doesn't like helping people?"

"Sorry Creampuff, I'm on the clock, and I have no interest in getting caught up in whatever crazy you three have going on." She was curious, but not curious enough to risk getting involved in something that quite possibly was in connection with her mother, absolutely not-

"Please? I think you could really make a difference, and it's important."

Dammit did she practice that puppy dog face in the mirror? That was playing dirty. After a long moment Carmilla felt her resolve crumbling.

"Ugh fine, tell me what you have and I'll decide whether or not I think I can help you."

"Great! Thank you!"

"Calm down Buttercup, I haven't made up my mind yet." But Laura's smile didn't dim, although the two gingers seemed undecided about the decision.

"Can we go to my usual corner? Its more private." The presence of Laura's friends only slightly helped to diminish the scenarios that sprung into Carmilla's subconscious about what going somewhere private with Laura would preferably entail.

She arranged the customer bell more prominently on the counter and got up reluctantly to follow the trio.

"Lead on." She said sardonically.

They all squeezed in around Laura's table, Carmilla's scowl ensuring her personal space wasn't breached, and set her gaze on Laura, hoping whatever she was going to say wouldn't be as bad as the nagging suspicions that plagued her since that night.

"Well?"

Laura took a deep breath in, "we're pretty sure the Dean is kidnapping people to use them in some sort of plot to free an ancient demon beneath Silas."

Oh no, it wasn't as bad as she thought.

It was worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is a Terry Pratchett fan hopefully they'll see what I was getting at with the books, although he said it far more eloquently than I ever could


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Careful folks we're gonna hit some actual plot soon

Technically, Carmilla didn't need to breathe. The only effect of stilling her chest was the long obsolete but stubbornly resilient instinct urging her to fill her lungs with oxygen. It caused mild discomfort. She realised she had been unnaturally still and silent for what suddenly felt like far too long. Subtly she resumed breathing in and out, hoping it hadn't been too obvious.

Laura continued, "I know, it sounds crazy right? But it's where all my research has led to! People are going missing, that's undeniable-"

"But what makes you think that the Dean has anything to do with it?" Carmilla finally found her voice.

"Right, well. That's where our theory gets a little flimsier..."

"Flimsier? That's where you're going with this?" The shorter one, Laf, broke in. "All we have are some photos and records that show the Dean is either way older than humanly possible, or she has relatives that look a hell of a lot like her. I'm not denying it's a little weird, I'm the first one to want to explore the supernatural, but we can't just accuse the head of Silas that she's an evil undead thing stealing students! At least not without some minimally invasive sample taking first..." Seemingly out of nowhere they pulled a large syringe and smiled somewhat creepily, "I'm a bio-major."

"I can see that. And what is it exactly that you want from me?" She had calmed down a little now that she knew the little motley group of investigators didn't quite have as much to back up their theory as she had feared, though they were closer to the mark from what she knew than she had thought it was possible for a few students to get. Maybe she could still throw them off somewhat and keep her part further off their scent.

"Well, we figured that you probably know these books better than we do, and I would have asked your boss but he seems a little...weird. We were wondering if you could help us try to figure out what kind of beast or demon is eating people that are taken?" Laura seemed thrilled that Carmilla was playing along, placing a hand on her forearm with a smile.

"I see...A few weeks ago you didn't even believe that these books had special properties, how on earth did you go from that to thinking there's a demon beneath Silas?" Carmilla tried to ignore the warmth pressing into her skin through the thin layer of her shirt.

"Well, lets just say I've recently had my eyes opened to the more...supernatural...elements of the campus. A few draco-pyromaniacs, harpy infestations and sentient cheeses later my mind is well and truly expanded." Laura joked. "And really it was the only logical explanation! The school has a really weird history once you start looking, the hauntings after the sacrifices of the late 1800's, the time a giant helped rebuild the Robespierre building, and that time the entire art department was possessed by spirits! Although in all fairness they did produce some amazing art, it's still hanging in the cafeteria. But these are all documented cases, so I looked into possible beings that require sacrifices and demons are the most obvious choice, along with few less well known beings."

The whole time they had been talking Perry had seemed to get more and more agitated, practically bursting at the seams with barely concealed discomfort.

"I really don't know why you guys brought me here!" She burst out.

"Perr..." Laf started soothingly.

"No! Just hearing this all out loud to someone else reminds me how crazy this all is. We shouldn't even be discussing this! People are going missing and we're here talking about demons and hauntings rather than doing something productive like calling the police!"

"Perr you know we can't do that, the police wouldn't come even if we did call them, and we've already established that the faculty doesn't care what happens. You heard them after Laura's roommate went missing. We're on our own, and we need you." They tentatively placed a hand on Perry's shoulder, and when it wasn't shrugged off they continued, "this is our only option right now."

Perry's bottom lip quivered slightly but she nodded and folded her arms tightly in defeat.

Laura had been watching Perry with concern, but now turned back to Carmilla, "so far one of the only theories we've come up with is that the Dean is feeding people to this "thing" in order to avoid aging or to gain power or something, you can't deny there's something off about her. But do you think there's anything you can do to help us? Anything at all would be great, we're kind of at a dead end."

That same damn puppy look was back. At least if she was inside the group and knew how much information they had gathered she could keep tabs on them and possibly throw them off the scent where necessary, Carmilla reasoned. But she could only do it as long as her part was undetectable by her mother's minions. There was no way in hell she would be caught as a part of this. She dreaded to think what punishment her mother would enact on her this time if she found out.

"I'll see what I can find, but don't get your hopes up, there's a lot of information stored in these books. It'll take effort on my part...what will I get in return?"

"What do you want?" It was Laura, Carmilla held her gaze for longer than was a strictly necessary, quirking one eyebrow, until a light blush coloured the other girl's cheeks.

"Why don't you let me worry about that."

Laf looked between the two of them, an odd expression on their face,

"O..kay then. Well thank you Carmilla I'm sure that'll be very helpful, in the meantime though we should probably go, right guys?"

"Uh yeah, totally." Laura picked up her things and Perry already started her stiff walk to the door, clearly still upset. "See you around Carm. I'll bring some more of my notes next time and we can really get started okay?"

Carmilla just nodded, despite her outward show of confidence fear was already coiling in her stomach as well as an iron clad prediction that she was going to come to regret this.


End file.
